No I've just been doing somereading lately. If I have been misunderstanding, I'm open to correction. I do insist that someone has to understand what I wronte before they can correct it.

The reason I ask is that while I haven't kept fully abreast of this thread since it's been revived, what little I have read has left me completely confused on the definitions and concepts of culture and racism you have provided, and I have a degree in what is essentially culture, and I don't think the entire source of my confusion is that I haven't put forth full effort in reading the conversation.

EDIT: I guess I'd prefer if you restated your entire viewpoint, because I can at least understand everyone else's viewpoint, and whether I find it accurate or not.

The reason I ask is that while I haven't kept fully abreast of this thread since it's been revived, what little I have read has left me completely confused on the definitions and concepts of culture and racism you have provided, and I have a degree in what is essentially culture, and I don't think the entire source of my confusion is that I haven't put forth full effort in reading the conversation.

EDIT: I guess I'd prefer if you restated your entire viewpoint, because I can at least understand everyone else's viewpoint, and whether I find it accurate or not.

I haven't attempted a definition of culture, but my concept is the general aggregaton of common understandings and methods of understanding that become part of the background for the thinking of individuals. Culture allows us to have a common set of cognitive shortcuts (without which communication would be even more difficult).

Racism would be the various common cognitive shortcuts associated with notions of skin color, heritage, etc.

Any habitual action, such as eating or dressing, may be performed on the appropriate occasion, without any need of thought, and the same seems to be true of a painfully large proportion of our talk. -- Bertrand Russell

I haven't attempted a definition of culture, but my concept is the general aggregaton of common understandings and methods of understanding that become part of the background for the thinking of individuals. Culture allows us to have a common set of cognitive shortcuts (without which communication would be even more difficult).

Racism would be the various common cognitive shortcuts associated with notions of skin color, heritage, etc.

There has also been some sort of disagreement when discussing the commonality and/or lack thereof of the words racism and racist. Would you care to clarify the two?

There's the obvious difference between being an adjective and a noun. The noun would be a property of a culture, the adjective applied to the features of that sulture, often seen in individuals, that supported and/or were supported by that property of a culture.

Any habitual action, such as eating or dressing, may be performed on the appropriate occasion, without any need of thought, and the same seems to be true of a painfully large proportion of our talk. -- Bertrand Russell

Yes, that explains Serge Ibaka's freakish athleticism. The breeding of his ancestors. In the Republic of Congo. In Africa. DOH!

So if your statement is true, it would be easy to test and prove that African Americans are physically genetically superior to Africans. That proof should be fairly easy to find, so I'll be waiting for your post of the scientific study.......

This notion came out of 1960's efforts to explain the reasons for declining family rates in the black demographic (that slavery made female only parenting seem natural). Everyone from reformers to feminists latched on and popularized it. However, the notion has been thoroughly discredited.

I think it's good vocaulary to use different words for different concepts. I can see actions as being based in cognitive shorcuts that are racist in nature, and have no problem saying those are racist actions. However, racism is a property of a culture, not a person.

Originally Posted by One Brow

"Racist" is a different word from "racism".

You are intentionally trying to argue words over ideas. You want to argue fluff over substance and make it seem like you come off intelligent or a winner in the argument?

Racism is not necessarily a property of a culture but it is more of an ideology that can but does not have to be contained within a culture.
The racist would be somebody that adheres to that ideology. You cannot have racism without racists, well I suppose you could but it would be just an empty theory with no substance. You can have racism with even just one racist.

I see your point in arguing words, but I still do not agree. I still think racism can be a "property" of a single person.

Any habitual action, such as eating or dressing, may be performed on the appropriate occasion, without any need of thought, and the same seems to be true of a painfully large proportion of our talk. -- Bertrand Russell

Words act like river channels. They keeps ideas flowing, but also confine those ideas to a set path. Sometimes, the path that words direct ideas into present a false view of the world. I'm not arguing over words; I'm trying to right the flow of the ideas behind the words.

Any habitual action, such as eating or dressing, may be performed on the appropriate occasion, without any need of thought, and the same seems to be true of a painfully large proportion of our talk. -- Bertrand Russell

Any habitual action, such as eating or dressing, may be performed on the appropriate occasion, without any need of thought, and the same seems to be true of a painfully large proportion of our talk. -- Bertrand Russell

Words act like river channels. They keeps ideas flowing, but also confine those ideas to a set path. Sometimes, the path that words direct ideas into present a false view of the world. I'm not arguing over words; I'm trying to right the flow of the ideas behind the words.

Any habitual action, such as eating or dressing, may be performed on the appropriate occasion, without any need of thought, and the same seems to be true of a painfully large proportion of our talk. -- Bertrand Russell